How to Format your Stream for Making Clips
How to Format your Stream for Making Clips
Have you ever gone to edit a clip and you realize that the framing doesn't really work? Are there things in the middle of your stream that make it hard to work around? I have been there myself so many times. I have a solution for you!
When it comes to creating content outside of your normal streams, like clips to post, the first step actually lies in the layout of your stream itself. I have some tips for you today on how to frame your streams so you have the easiest time editing your clips!
Step One - Understanding Formatting
So, your absolute step one is deciding what you want your clips to look like when you edit them. I am specifically talking about vertical format for platforms like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, etc. If you don't already have experience with turning your clips into vertical format, you may have never thought about what your stream layout needs to be and that's okay!
Think of formatting like this. Your stream is a piece of paper, like a magazine page. Your sources you have on stream are the different things on that magazine page. When you want to format it to vertical, you're going to cut out parts of that magazine page and fit them into the vertical format. When you're setting up your stream with the sources you want, that's like someone designing what the magazine page will look like. When its being streamed to Twitch (or your chosen platform) that's like the magazine page being printed out. You can no longer change those sources around anymore, they're printed like that. You have to take them out of the page and rearrange them the way you want.
All in all, choosing the right formatting of your sources BEFORE that stream turns into a clip or a VOD is how to set yourself up for success with your clips! Remember the magazine analogy when formatting and it'll help to visualize it!
Step Two - Choose your Formatting
There are a few different options for how you can frame things depending on what type of streams you do. Personally, I play games and do just chatting streams so I've got the formatting I like for both of those. Lets go over how both of those work!
a) Formatting for Gaming Clips
If you stream games a lot, then you'll want to make sure your stream layout on OBS is setup for success. The most important thing is making sure you don't have any unwanted sources in the middle of your screen. For example, If you have on-screen chat, a stream pet, png's for your friends, etc, you'll want to have them off to either side of your stream.
The second most important thing is based on if you have a camera or not. If you do, then you'll want to make sure that, firstly, it's not clipping onto the middle of your stream and secondly, that you have a camera frame shape that you're okay editing with. For context to what I mean, I used to have a really chunky camera frame with an old overlay package I had. It was cute on stream, but it made it very hard to edit with and didn't look great on my clips.
You should consider both of those things for your gaming clips! They will definitely help to make them look much cleaner and easier to edit.
b) Formatting for Just Chatting Clips
If you're doing a lot of Just Chatting streams then its important to have a layout in mind when you setup your stream! The concept is very similar to the gaming clips, however in this case, your "game" is your camera, or if you're a V-Tuber, your model and some of the background.
I, myself, have a chat source on my Chatting streams that I keep over on the right hand side. I made sure that its not so wide that it cuts into the area that I like to have in my clips, but its still visible and what I want for my stream! I also have a Ko-Fi support source on my stream as well but I make sure to keep that in one of the far corners of stream so it doesn't get in the way of anything.
Lastly, for Just Chatting streams especially, if you have an overlay of any kind, you should be sure that you're aware and okay with anything that will pop up in your clips. For example, if you have a most recent subscriber or follower that shows up on the stream, perhaps you don't want their name showing up in the clips. That's something to keep in mind!
Step Three - Make those Clips!
Now that you've got an understanding of formatting and the tools you need to upgrade your stream, you should get yourself some clippable moments! Go stream, have fun, enjoy yourself!
Try to keep these tips in mind whenever you're adding extra sources to your stream. An extra tidbit I'll mention is you don't need to do that with "temporary" sources like alerts or stickers that pop up on stream for a few seconds. Unless you have a personal preference to, you can put those in the middle of your screen. It's just important for the stuff that is visible all the time.
Conclusion
Hi there! My name is Mystic and I've
been streaming and content creating for 5 years now. Over the years I've
definitely had my fair share of trial and error with stream layouts. I'm not a fan of gatekeeping and I believe education should be
accessible to everyone!
Thank you for reading! If you have any questions for me please leave them in the comments below!
If you'd like to see more posts like
this please consider following this blog and following me on my other
socials! I have an educational series called "Mystic's Guide to
Streaming" on my YouTube channel and I stream live on Twitch on
Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays every week! See you in the next one!
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